


don't play chicken

by demonglass



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Bad Flirting, Banter, Getting Together, Hijinks & Shenanigans, M/M, No Plot/Plotless, Teamwork makes the dream work, mark lee's single braincell
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-29
Updated: 2020-08-29
Packaged: 2021-03-07 01:07:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,769
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26168377
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/demonglass/pseuds/demonglass
Summary: Catch feelings for Donghyuck? Mark's got that covered!Catch nearly a dozen runaway chickens for Donghyuck? Well... Mark might have a little more trouble with that one.
Relationships: Lee Donghyuck | Haechan/Mark Lee
Comments: 18
Kudos: 111





	don't play chicken

**Author's Note:**

> do not ask me what this is <3

Times like these, Mark  _ really _ wonders how he always seems to end up in these kinds of situations. The answer, he realizes, stands ten feet away from him.

Across the yard, Donghyuck is staring down one of the escaped chickens, watching with narrowed eyes as its head twitches and it lifts a careful foot off the ground, as if it's getting ready to run.

_ "You slippery little bastard,"  _ Donghyuck hisses, lunging forward for it just as it flaps its wings and books it through the grass and right past Donghyuck. Donghyuck lets out a groan of frustration, running a hand through his hair as he straightens up again and watches in dismay as the chicken settles down near the fence, well away from Donghyuck's reach.

Mark is tempted to laugh at the ridiculousness of it all, but then Donghyuck's narrowed eyes land on  _ him _ and he freezes.

"Why aren't you helping?" Donghyuck asks. "Aren't you the one who let them all out in the first place?"

"Hey, that was an accident!" Mark says. "How was I supposed to know the door needed to be latched to keep them all in?"

Donghyuck stares at him. He opens his mouth, then closes it again, entirely lost for words. His withering gaze speaks volumes, though. That's how Mark knows he's in  _ deep  _ this time.

"Fine," Mark relents before Donghyuck comes up with a devastating blow, "I'll help. I've just never caught a chicken before. How the fuck do you do it?"

"Sheer dumb luck," Donghyuck says, already turning away from Mark to eye the near-dozen chickens picking their way around the yard.

"Great," Mark mutters.

"I heard that! Not helpful," Donghyuck tells him without looking his way again. "How about you try to herd them towards me so I can grab them."

"Like a dog?"

Donghyuck grins, all teeth. "If you're into that, sure."

Mark grits his teeth to fight the blush he can feel rising in his cheeks and shakes his head. "Shut the hell up. Which one should I go for first?"

Donghyuck points to two chickens pecking at the ground for bugs just to Mark's left, so Mark walks slowly, deliberately towards them, until he's less than a foot away. "Um, they're not going towards you," Mark says.

"Wow, I hadn't noticed,” Donghyuck says dryly.

"What the fuck do I do, then?" Mark asks.

"Just grab one of them!" Donghyuck says, "It'll spook the other one. Unless these are the stupid ones in which case you can just grab them both. Win-win."

Mark resists the urge to squirm. He doesn't particularly  _ want  _ to grab a chicken, let alone two of them. There's just something about their beady little eyes and talon claws that he doesn't trust.

"This year, Mark," Donghyuck says. He's inching his way towards the birds too, nearly as close to them as Mark.

"Right." Mark shakes out his hands to psych himself up, then takes one more step forward and lunges, grabbing one of the chickens with both hands. The bird squawks far louder than it should be able to with such small lungs, and flaps both its wings wildly in an attempt to escape Mark's grasp, but Mark holds on tight.

Just as Donghyuck predicted, the other chicken startles, and runs right into Donghyuck's waiting hands. He scoops the bird up with much more ease, and somehow holds it so that it doesn't fight furiously to get out of his grasp.

Donghyuck looks up from the chicken and meets Mark's eyes, grinning again; this time it's a nice smile, the kind that doesn't make Mark's heart race with the threat of imminent danger, but with something else entirely.

"Two down!" Donghyuck cheers as they carry the chickens back to their coop, depositing them safely inside and latching the door shut. (Donghyuck makes an overly emphasized point of this, and Mark rolls his eyes, but doesn't complain because maybe, just maybe, he deserves it.)

The next few chickens don't go down quite so easily.

Donghyuck chases down the one that had slipped his grasp earlier, and it shrieks and flaps across the lawn, and Mark laughs so much he accidentally scares off the chicken  _ he's  _ meant to be snatching. In the end, they realize they can't divide and conquer- they have to team up to be evenly matched with the flighty birds.

Using the boxing-in method, they end up trapping another three chickens, getting them back where they belong, and Mark thinks that now that they're halfway done, they should be getting better at it, but...

_ "Fuck, Mark, another one just took a shit in the grass over there! This is supposed to be a safe space, not a minefield!" _

The game of cat and mouse - or in this case, human and chicken - gets significantly harder on the human end when they start having to watch their steps as they chase down the escaped birds, because Mark may be wearing ratty old sneakers, but that doesn't mean he's keen on stepping in literal chicken shit. Donghyuck shares the sentiment, so it takes them another five minutes just to catch another chicken each.

As Donghyuck re-latches the coop door, and looks out at the three chickens still left roaming the yard, he lets out a loud groan. "I am  _ never  _ going to forget that you did this to us, Mark Lee. I could be lying down right now, but instead I am  _ sweating  _ and chasing chickens."

"Look," Mark grimaces, "it was an accident. Besides, we've almost got them all!"

Donghyuck glares at him, unimpressed.

Mark raises his hands in defense. "I'll order pizza after we catch them all to make up for it?"

Donghyuck's glare fades, replaced by a grin. "What are we, pokemon trainers?"

"Is that an  _ I forgive you for making an honest mistake?" _

Donghyuck pretends to contemplate, and Mark  _ knows  _ it's just to make him sweat, but it still works. He's going to need a shower after all of this. And some water.

"Sure," Donghyuck says, "as long as you were serious about that pizza. I'm starving from all this."

Mark lets out a breath of relief; that's one bullet dodged. He glances back at the yard, at the three final chickens scouring the dirt for bugs. "Let's get this over with, then."

Donghyuck punches his shoulder lightly. "You got it."

The rest of the chickens go down one by one.

Mark rushes one and spooks it into Donghyuck's arms. They corner one against the fence together, and when Mark flinches after it lets out an unholy squawk at them, Donghyuck grabs it so he doesn't have to.

Finally, there's only one chicken left standing. It must be the smartest of the bunch, must have learned a thing or two watching all the others get snatched, because it gives Mark and Donghyuck hell. Every time they've nearly got it, it shrieks and sprints away from them. So it goes again and again until Mark is wiping sweat off his forehead with the back of his hand and Donghyuck is cursing with a potty-mouth so filthy it puts the floor of the chicken coop to shame.

"This tricky little bitch is lucky she's a laying hen or I'd make her into fucking dinner," he seethes as the chicken escapes them once again.

"She can probably feel your murderous intent," Mark says. "I bet that's why she's not letting you get close enough to grab her."

"I guess you're gonna have to get this one, then," Donghyuck says, glancing up at Mark for confirmation.

Mark squirms, still not thrilled by the prospect of snatching up another bird, but he can't exactly say no, so he nods.

"Okay," Donghyuck says, "I'm gonna lead it to you, and you just have to trap it by the fence and grab it."

"Okay," Mark agrees, backing up carefully towards the fence, keeping his eyes on the chicken, watching for any sudden movements.

The air grows thick with tension as Donghyuck slowly pushes the chicken forward, closer and closer to Mark and the fence. "Grab it at the very last second," Donghyuck instructs.

Mark nods, hands coming up slow enough not to spook the chicken as it struts nearer. Donghyuck keeps inching it closer, until it's nearly within reach. Mark stands perfectly still, and then, right when it's nearly on top of him, he lunges for it.

The chicken as good as screams. Its wings beat furiously and its legs kick against the air, and it just  _ keeps  _ going.

"Jesus fuck," Donghyuck shouts over the sound, "she is  _ really  _ not having this."

Like this spurs the chicken on even more, it struggles harder against Mark, twisting in his hands and nearly breaking free. One of the chicken's feet kicks up and hits Mark's arm, and a claw digs into Mark's skin, tearing through it before he manages to get the damn bird still again.

Mark curses vehemently, because  _ fuck, those claws are nasty, _ and tightens his grip, determined not to let the little bastard get away now that they've finally caught it. He holds the bird as far away from his chest as he can and hurries across the yard towards the coop. "Are you sure we can't make this one dinner?" He’s only half joking.

Donghyuck undoes the latch and swings the door open just in time for Mark to toss the chicken in, and he closes and re-locks the door again as soon as Mark's arms are free. "Oh," he says, catching sight of the blood marring Mark's skin, "did she get you?"

"Yeah," Mark grits out. "It stings like a motherfucker."

Donghyuck, to his credit, doesn't laugh. "Well, let's get you inside and get that cleaned."

"Please," Mark agrees.

Donghyuck double-checks the coop latch, then leads the way inside. Mark throws a glare over his shoulder at the chickens, and trails after Donghyuck.

Inside, Mark rinses his arm in the kitchen sink, and grits his teeth through rubbing soap over the cut because  _ fuck, it had stung before, but this was a whole new beast _ . While he cleans the cut, Donghyuck pulls a box of bandaids and a tube of antiseptic cream down from the cupboard. Once the blood is all washed away and Mark can see that the cut on his wrist is fairly shallow, just hurts a hell of a lot more than it has any right to, he shuts off the tap and pats his arm dry.

"I think this is my karma for letting those chickens out in the first place," he groans.

"So you admit it was totally your fault?" Donghyuck asks, voice too bright.

Mark levels him with a weak glare, and doesn't answer. "Just pass me the cream and bandaids."

Donghyuck, instead of doing as Mark asks, turns around and digs through the cupboard again, producing a bottle of hydrogen peroxide. "Use this first," he instructs, placing it in Mark's hands and then stepping around him so he can wash his hands at the sink. "It's gonna sting like a bitch."

Mark can hear the grin in Donghyuck's voice. He hates that it makes him feel all fizzy inside, like a can of shaken soda.

While Donghyuck washes and dries his hands, Mark pours some of the solution into the cap of the container, then drizzles it over the cut. As soon as the peroxide hits the broken skin of his wrist, it fizzes - a distinctly  _ less  _ pleasant fizzing than before - and Mark grits his teeth again. Of course Donghyuck was right.

"Well that sucked," Mark says, exhaling as the burning sensation fades away and his skin begins to dry again.

"Maybe next time you'll think twice before leaving the coop unlocked and unattended," Donghyuck says, smile as saccharine as his voice when Mark turns to glare at him a second (or is it third? Mark's lost count) time.

"You're not gonna let me live this down, are you?" Mark asks, and even  _ he  _ can hear it in his voice, that he's already resigning himself to his fate.

Donghyuck's smile only grows. "Never," he promises.

Mark sighs. "Well, will you at least pass me the cream and bandaids  _ now _ ?"

Donghyuck shakes his head, and Mark's lips are already forming around an incredulous  _ are you serious?  _ when Donghyuck surprises him into silence by grabbing his arm with the hand he doesn't have around the tube of cream, and tugging him closer.

The cap is already twisted off, sitting on the counter behind Donghyuck, so all he has to do is pinch the tube between his fingers to squeeze out a pea-sized amount of cream.

"What are you-" Mark cuts himself off as Donghyuck swipes the cream off with his finger and then runs it delicately over the cut on Mark's wrist, smoothing the cream over the broken skin.

"Tiny little cut like this was enough to take you out, huh?" Donghyuck teases as he rubs in the cream, but despite his tone, his touch is gentle.

"Uh," Mark says intelligently. He stares at Donghyuck. "I could've done that."

Donghyuck looks up from Mark's wrist with narrowed eyes. He doesn't say anything, just keeps his hold on Mark's arm and glares until Mark presses his lips together in a silent promise to bite his tongue for another minute and let Donghyuck keep going.

When Donghyuck finally looks away, his eyes drop back to the cut on Mark's wrist for just a moment before he twists around. He lets go of Mark's arm so he can re-cap the tube of antiseptic cream and grab one of the large, wide bandaids from the box. He shucks open the paper and turns back to Mark, finding that he hasn't moved his arm an inch.

Mark watches, fascinated as Donghyuck's lips twitch into a smile and he peels off the backing of the bandaid so he can line it up over the cut and then smooth it down, making sure the adhesive sticks to Mark's skin.

"Good as new," Donghyuck announces proudly, finally meeting Mark's eyes again. It almost looks like there's a light blush rising in his cheeks.

"Thanks," Mark says slowly, cautiously. He's still trying to figure out what's happening. "Do you think I don't know how to do that stuff myself?"

Irritation flickers over Donghyuck's face. "Just thanks would have been fine. Unless you  _ don't  _ want me to be nice to you? Because I'm fine with that too; you know you're way too easy to bully."

Mark blinks. "Hey! I’m just curious. Is that a crime?"

Donghyuck crosses his arms over his chest,  _ defensive _ . "Yes," he says. "No questions. Learn to read minds if you want to know things. Or just learn to use your brain."

Mark's lips part, but he has no idea what to say. " _ What _ is happening?" he whispers helplessly.

Donghyuck pinches the bridge of his nose, exhales, steps right up into Mark's space. He pokes Mark square in the forehead. "Use. Your. Brain." He puts emphasis on each word, and sighs again. "You're lucky I like you."

Something rattles in Mark's chest, like his heart has turned into a jumping bean and is now beating relentlessly against the cage of his ribs. He stares at Donghyuck and Donghyuck stares right back, and hang on... he's  _ definitely  _ blushing now.

Mark furrows his brows, brain spinning into overdrive as something flutters in his stomach at the intent look in Donghyuck's eyes, dancing right alongside the clear frustration that's tugging Donghyuck's lips into a pout.

And  _ oh no _ , now Mark is looking at Donghyuck's lips. He tears his eyes away, trying to meet Donghyuck's again in the hopes that he hadn't noticed, but he finds that Donghyuck isn't looking up anymore-  _ he's  _ looking at  _ Mark's  _ lips.

A moment later, Donghyuck's eyes flicker back up to Mark's again, and it's like everything clicks into place.

_ "Oh,"  _ Mark says,  _ out loud _ , as everything comes together inside his head.

Interest sparks in Donghyuck's eyes. "Oh?"

Mark taps his head. "I think I got it." He hesitates for just a moment before resting a tentative hand on Donghyuck's shoulder, thumb brushing against his neck.

Donghyuck's face clears, and he smiles. He throws an arm over Mark's shoulder. "I think you did," he says. "Wanna make sure?"

Mark swallows, and nods. "Yeah."

"Have at it," Donghyuck offers, cheeky to the very end. Of course he'd make Mark work for it. 

But Mark grins regardless, because this is Donghyuck, and he wouldn't have him any other way.

( He forgets to order the pizza until much later in the afternoon, but he can’t quite find it in himself to care. )

**Author's Note:**

> i have Three (3) ficfest deadlines to meet and one is literally in two days but i have lost my writing groove so i wrote....whatever This is in an attempt to get used to writing again.... hopefully it works!


End file.
